Roadmaps, No Man's Sky and how Asperations are seen as Promises


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Let's discuss game design and public relations policy, from an academic perspective.

The Long Dark Road Map is beginning to worry me, as the chances that they are setting themselves up for failure seem to increase exponentially as hype for the game increases.

Just look at the backlash against No Man's Sky, regardless of whether or not the game is good as it stands, many players are truly disappointed because, "aspirational features" did not make it into the final game.

Some big name sin the industry are already saying it's an lesson to be learned from, you cannot say a feature might be in a game, without the fans assuming that it will be there.

Just look at what game designer Forrest Dowling (Bioshock Infinite, The Fire and The Flood) had to say, “Avoid talking about anything that’s not locked in your game, aspirations become promises once stated.”

Other developers have also pointed out that cases like No Man’s Sky are why big-budget game companies tend to have such controlled PR messages. If PR is running everything, there’s less risk of a game dev making ambitious claims that reflect what they hope to accomplish rather than what they have accomplished.

So my question is, does anyone else fear that Hinterland has erred by creating a Aspirational Roadmap, that the players may view as promises?

I think many of us understand that not everything will make it from the roadmap to the game, but I can already see some of the less reasonable folks on these forums primed to flame against anything they disagree with. And anything that does not make the transition from roadmap to game will simply give them and others like them more fuel.

Has anyone seen this in other games they were a fan of? Have you ever been let down by a game that promised a feature, but failed to deliver?

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Interesting topic! Being in Early Access has meant that the community around The Long Dark has seen the evolution of the game first-hand. There's a track record for how and why content gets into the game. 

And players have also seen how we talk about its development as well. We've been very clear in the talking about the Roadmap--and indeed in the Roadmap document itself--that it's a living list and doesn't represent a promise or guarantee that a particular feature will be added to the game. 

Plus, we still like to think we can surprise you with some additions you didn't see coming. ;)

 

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Just now, Patrick Carlson said:

And players have also seen how we talk about its development as well. We've been very clear in the talking about the Roadmap--and indeed in the Roadmap document itself--that it's a living list and doesn't represent a promise or guarantee that a particular feature will be added to the game. 

 

Well, yeah, we know this. But that's no guarantee that the rest of players - most of which most likely don't read these forums - do.

Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that the finished product will be awesome in any way imaginable. But there are others that may doubt, and that could be a problem in the future.

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50 minutes ago, Wastelander said:

Well, yeah, we know this. But that's no guarantee that the rest of players - most of which most likely don't read these forums - do.

Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that the finished product will be awesome in any way imaginable. But there are others that may doubt, and that could be a problem in the future.

We're consistent in talking this way on all the different social platforms we use, so we hope this is understood by "most" people interested in the game. :)

But yes, I think the NMS launch has raised issues that a lot people, all over the games industry (players/media/developers), are thinking about right now. 

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I was wondering if you'd bring up early access, right now it seems to be the biggest difference between No Man's Sky and other successful indie games like TLD.

I don't recall there even being a short public beta for NMS, while games like Prison Architect, The Forest, and TLD have had extensive early access periods. These have allowed players to follow the development more closely. Allowing for more iterative release of information, as well as the ability to change direction with the layers more fully informed. perhaps this "softens the blow" preventing vast numbers from being disappointed like the current NMS community.

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Personally, I think it comes down to communication, communication, and, most importantly, more communication.

The road map clearly says "aspirational targets". That's a good start. When it comes time for the game to launch (whenever that may be) I think it will also be important to clearly state what will and will not be in the game. You can have targets for future updates/ongoing support but what is in the game at launch must be made clear. If someone complains "the game doesn't have "X" but the site says it would" and all that's available is the road map I can understand there being backlash. If there's a clear list of features (including what didn't make the cut) for the final product than I think there will be much less confusion and negative backlash. Sure, this may reduce the hype but hype fades. A good quality product that does what it sets out to do will last far longer (and generate more sales) than some hype followed by a backlash and demands for refunds.

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I don't find the road maps worrying at all, but part of that is because I've learned to trust the team at Hinterland over the past... wow, has it been almost two years? Yep, just checked Steam purchase history, it was September 25, 2014.

Now don't mistake me for a Pollyanna, I can get pretty irate about games sometimes, and have said fairly unprintable things to friends or family about early access in general or specific games in particular. In fact, when I first looked at TLD and saw the early access label, I was suspicious, but I found Hinterland's website, which had plenty of info on the development team and their history making other games, many of which I had played and enjoyed, so I thought to myself, "Okay, this a real team, not just a handful of people with an interesting idea and a lot of hope. There could be an amazing game here."

Cekivi is right about communication, it makes a huge difference, and it's what helped to build the aforementioned trust. Well, that, and simply the great product itself. I skip around to a lot of different games, but I keep coming back to TLD, and every time I do, I find it enjoyable, engrossing, and unlike any other games I play. Game play seems simple when put into words, but the experience, for me, is always immersive. I wanted authentic-feeling survival, me versus the elements, and they delivered that experience.

Contrast that with NMS, where hints kept dropping that it was going to be this big, crazy universe with all sorts of possibilities and maybe even multiplayer, and the sci-fi fanboy in me really took a close look at the hype, hoping it might be true. But the communications were vague, the trailers, while pretty, were mostly uninformative about the game play experience, and I didn't get that feeling of "this is it, this is a game that will keep me coming back." The background and experience of the team at Hello Games, such as I could find out, didn't really wow me. All that together meant trust never formed, and I waited for actual game play footage from real players to decide whether to purchase.

Long story short, I agree the NMS hype train is a cautionary tale about over-promising on features (and the crazy-insane backlash the gaming community can unleash when they feel they have been "wronged," but that's a whole other discussion), but I don't feel it's applicable to the way Hinterland writes its road maps and it's definitely not applicable to my experience with the product to date.

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For starters, its possible that I may at times be one of those "less reasonable folks"  that @miah999 referenced, B| but heres my 2 cents:

I for one would tend to agree with games making "implied promises" becoming a bigger and bigger issue in the industry. It seem like everytime one dev team gets away with it, another pulls it and so on. Hinterland has always been very careful about hinting at features, making it pretty tough to get a foothold into any legitimate complaint in that area.  I can see the point with games released as finished, and not containing implied features, especially since many of those games are often PRE-sold based on promised features.  With games released as alpha though, such as TLD, anyone crying about aspirational promises really doesnt have a leg to stand on. We all purchased knowing full well that we are helping the development by testing and offering ideas and feedback. Things change as a game develops. maybe something the team was really excited about in the beginning just didnt work out the way they planned, or no longer fits in as the game matures. Its games like DayZ, that continually promise big parties over the course of years and years without ever delivering that give alpha a bad name. I'm very happy with how Hinterland has progressed this game. You'll find lots of complaints on steam, some on here about schedule changes, etc but its all pretty small minded.  As often as not, when something doesnt make the cut, we get something even cooler, or when something gets pushed back, its even better than claims when it arrives.  Personally, I'd say to Hinterland, on this issue, you're doing great, keep it up, and take your time, the results are always worth it.  It's a shame more studios wouldnt take a cue from Raph and the crew. 

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There's a lot of variables to be observed in scenarios like these.

I personally love the fact that Hinterland is willing to share their roadmap with us, but I have the bias of acknowledging the emphasis on the word "aspirational". As @miah999accurately pointed out, big companies have shut-tight PRs; that's because the general public is... well, let's say they're usually not as focused as we are.

Just browse the Steam forum; there's just so much noise in there. It's chaotic, and misinformation easily (and exponentially) gets tangled with more misinformation. (Misinformation that is brought by less attentive/diligent forum-goers, mind you; absolutely not by the moderators/CMs.) Every insatisfaction is iterated and multiplied. That's the kind of confusion that begets (misguided) resent. Hype fades faster than resent, and not even all the TLD evangelists can handle it.

On the other hand, I don't see the NMS incident as a fiasco. As of now, SteamSpy indicates 700k+ people owning the game. Of course there's more than money to it, but I don't think that many independent producers are able to scoff at a revenue of US$ 42+ million. Which begs the question: at the end, what does negative backlash on a good game really mean? (And I'm not saying NMS is either good or bad; haven't played it yet.) Not much, in my opinion.

If the game truly is good (and now I'm saying it: TLD-EA is already great), people will play it. Less people will buy it on impulse. People unable to develop their own opinion will be less inclined to buy future games from the same studio; but then again I don't know if these are Hinterland's (or Hello's) target audience. If I'm an indie developer with enough resources (and let's mention that TLD also has 700k+ Steam owners), my main objective is to develop an experience for people who are able to appreciate it. But I digress.

Even if the launch is awful for several different reasons, many players recognize there's time for improvement. I've seen more than a few Steam reviews saying that given game has improved over time, after this or that update.

All things considered, I don't think we (or Hinterland) should worry. TLD already is a success, and the press and the players recognize it. We just have to keep doing whatever we're doing.

P.S.: Great topic, by the way, miah!

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